Committee to Recall Mayor Lamar Thorpe has yet to file required financial reports
Following multiple notices from city clerk; they were due May 2 and Aug. 1; committee leaders meeting Thursday “to get it done”; signature gathering contractor refuses to talk; request for contract with signature gathering company ignored
By Allen D. Payton
The campaign finance report, known as a Form 460, for each of the Antioch Mayor Lamar recall campaigns, was due on July 1 and August 1, 2022. So far, only Thorpe’s campaign committee has filed his latest quarterly report on August 1. However, according to Antioch City Clerk Ellie Householder, as of Tuesday, August 9, 2022, at 5:00 p.m. the Committee to Recall Mayor Lamar Thorpe who claims they were ripped off in the amount of $23,000 and all the estimated 11,000 signatures, has not submitted their 460 reports. (See related articles here and here)
Thorpe’s report shows he had raised an additional $1,000 since the last reporting period. That was contributed by retired Antioch resident and real estate investor Joseph Zamora. But the mayor’s committee did not spend any of the $78,108.60 remaining balance through June 30th. (See related article) Thorpe Beat the Karen Recall 460 080122
In response to a request for copies of the recall committee’s form 460 reports, if they had been submitted, since they don’t appear on the city clerk’s campaign finance reporting website, in an email at 5:38 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 9 Householder wrote, “According to our records, the ‘Committee to Recall Mayor Lamar Thorpe’ has not filed any Form 460. Please see a record below of the multiple reminder notifications since May 2022. These were sent to their Assistant Treasurer’s e-mail, which is tied to their NetFile account, at a ‘live.com’ e-mail address. Their 2nd quarter statement for the period, 04/01/22 – 06/30/22, was due August 1, 2022. The Committee to Recall Mayor Lamar Thorpe did not provide a phone number on their Statement of Organization, so the only communication to this committee was via email. Attached was the first PDF letter of notification for their quarterly statement, which was duplicated 6 more times for the other notices, adjusting the date for each of the deadline in the list below. Please note the street address was redacted in the letter, per Gov’t Code §6254.4.”
List of City Clerk’s notices to Committee to Recall Lamar Thorpe.
However, looking at their Statement of Organization known as a Form 410, it clearly shows phone numbers for both the committee treasurer James Pringle and assistant treasurer Tom Hartrick, as well as for principal officer Clarke Wilson. Committee to Recall Thorpe 410
A question was sent to both Householder and Deputy City Clerk Christina Garcia asking about that and how they could have missed seeing their phone numbers on the form.
Householder responded, “A point of clarification, their Netfile account does not include their phone number. Per Antioch Municipal Code §2-6.101 (A), campaign filings are done through ‘the City Clerk’s online system,’ which for the City of Antioch is Netfile. And as you know, filing deadline notifications are sent via Netfile.
Ultimately, however, per California Government Code § 84104, it is the duty of the committee to, ‘establish that campaign statements were properly filed.’ Additionally, FPPC Regulations §18427 states that the committee treasurer is responsible for meeting all applicable filing deadlines. Notifications of deadlines are sent by the City Clerk’s Office as a courtesy, not a requirement. A courtesy notification, of which, five were sent to the Recall Mayor Lamar Thorpe Committee, per my previous email.
It is the duty, however, of the local filing official to send notification of non-filing to committees, which was sent by my office on 8/9/22. I have attached a copy of that letter to this email.”
Qtrly Filing Notification – Committee to Recall 05-03-22 Notice of Non-Filer Status for Committee to Recall Mayor Lamar Thorpe 8-9-22
Committee Treasurer, Assistant Treasurer to Meet Today to “Get It Done”, Request for Contract with Signature Gathering Company Ignored
Questions were sent to Pringle, Hartrick and recall organizer Lindsey Amezcua on Tuesday, August 9 asking about the committee’s Form 460 report. But no response was received.
But on Wednesday, August 10 when informed of the email from Householder, Pringle responded, “I am meeting with Tom tomorrow after work to get it done. I spoke to him earlier in the week. The plan was to get it done before the first, but then I got Covid.”
“Definitely should/could have been done earlier,” he added.
When informed that the first report was due May 2 Pringle responded, “Good Lord. This is my first and probably last time doing this.”
Householder’s email to the Herald was forwarded to both Pringle and Hartrick Wednesday evening asking why wasn’t the first report submitted, yet which was due May 2 and if they were not aware it was due prior to the first notice being sent by Householder.
Hartrick was also asked why he ignored all of the city clerk’s notices.
They were also asked for any other comments about this delay in reporting the committee’s finances and for a copy of the reports once they’ve been submitted to the clerk’s office.
An additional effort to reach Hartrick was unsuccessful prior to publication time.
Finally, they were asked to provide a copy of the contract with signature gathering contractor Bryan Schafer and his company Blitz Canvassing and/or his associate, Kim Ridley and copies of the cancelled checks paid to him/them.
In a text message exchange with the 25-year-old Schafer on June 8, 2022, he was asked to offer his side of the story and if what the recall organizers claim about him is true. He responded that same night, “We can set up a time to call tomorrow. Sorry I’ve been busy getting all my people to work for Michigans [sic] campaigns.”
However, Schafer has not answered or returned any phone calls or responded to additional text messages since then.
Please check back later for any updates to this report.
the attachments to this post:
Qtrly Filing Notification – Committee to Recall 05-03-22
Notice of Non-Filer Status for Committee to Recall Mayor Lamar Thorpe 8-9-22
Thorpe Beat the Karen Recall 460 080122
Thorpe Beat the Karen Recall 460 080122
Notices to Thorpe Recall Committee
